'Mission accomplished' for West Ham

It was mission accomplished for West Ham after their UEFA Europa League win over Lusitanos on Thursday.

Published

10 July 2015

West Ham academy manager Terry Westley praised his team after they safely reached the UEFA Europa League qualifying second round.

A first-half goal from Elliot Lee helped the Premier League club to a 1-0 win at Lusitanos, completing a 4-0 aggregate victory over the Andorrans.

Westley, who was joined in the dugout by new West Ham manager Slaven Bilic, was pleased with his how side performed throughout the tie.

"Mission accomplished, you would say, over the two legs," Westley said.

"We asked a group of players to return to work on 22 June and the cohesion between the senior and younger players was absolutely first-class.

"I've got total respect for the senior players and how they went about it in both games. We kept two clean sheets and the way the two centre-halves dealt with everything they threw at us, they were determined to keep the ball out of the net.

"The second leg was made very different after ten minutes and we ended up having to play with 10 men."

A 14th-minute red card to Diafra Sakho made things difficult for West Ham, but Lee's goal ensured the tie was safe.

Westley said Bilic was also happy with his players, with his team to meet Maltese club Birkirkara in the second round.

"Slaven thanked the players because it's not straightforward," he said.

"It's been a learning curve and this Europa League is giving the young players an opportunity and something to play for. We need to keep working hard and becoming better with the ball.

"We all come back together on Monday when the boys from Cork come back and everyone is back at Chadwell. They will integrate and we're all looking forward to it."